The Sochi International Investment Forum was Russian Translation Company’s first large-scale event. We had barely been around six months when we, for all intents and purposes, gatecrashed a pitch meeting and wowed everyone with our attention to detail: we noticed a perilous mistake in a document to be signed by the head of the Forum. And we were in!
Quality wasn’t an issue. We had a large pool of interpreters with whom we had worked personally in the booth and whose strengths we knew. Logistics, however, was a whole new ball game. We had to organize travel, accommodation, food, and timetables for 40 interpreters, trying to match their areas of expertise to the topics of the sessions. This is not as easy as it may seem. And the fact that the Forum venue went on for miles was an additional headache.
On top of that, we had to prove to the leading interpreters that we belonged there. For the first time, we were there as their clients, rather than junior colleagues. We did our best to make their lives as comfortable as possible, putting bottled water, wet wipes, and chocolates in every room. Each morning, we would slip a freshly printed schedule for the day under their doors. We even held an informal competition for the best translation of various slogans, to add a little light relief to the heavy workload.
What gave us a leg up over our competitors was the fact that we truly cared about our interpreters. And we still do. This is what allows us to put together brilliant teams, no matter how many interpreters are required.
Our impeccable performance at the Sochi Forum helped us become a vendor at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum and other events organized by the Roscongress Foundation. Its representatives saw us in action and invited us to submit a tender.
The Sochi International Investment Forum (later the Russian Investment Forum) was an annual event held in Krasnodar Region between 2001 and 2019. For most of its life, the Forum was organized by the Krasnodar Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry, until the Roscongress Foundation took the helm in 2016. The 2019 edition of the event brought together over 8000 participants from 65 countries.
One-Stop Shop
In line with our one-stop shop approach, RPK provided both interpretation and translation services for the events. In the run-up to each forum, we translated the programme, invitations, and news from Russian into English. In addition, Russian Translation Company was asked to translate articles for the Krasnodar Region magazine into English and proofread the print-ready copy.
Ahead of the forum, RPK employees compiled a glossary of Krasnodar Region toponyms edited by Professor Dmitry Ermolovich, a leading expert in proper names. The glossary was made available to all translators and interpreters to make sure the names of Krasnodar stanitsas, districts, and regions were properly rendered in English.
The number of interpreters — both simultaneous and consecutive who worked with the leadership of the Krasnodar Region administration — varied from year to year, reaching as many as 50. The main working languages were English and Russian, but German, French, Italian, Korean, Turkish, Chinese, Spanish, and other languages were also in demand. On one occasion, a Russian sign language interpreter was even requested. This was our first experience providing inclusive communication services.
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